In the Headlines

SELECTED NEWS COVERAGE:
April 2012

New York Times (April 28)

Why are political and religious figures who campaign against gay rights so often implicated in sexual encounters with same-sex partners? One theory is that homosexual urges, when repressed out of shame or fear, can be expressed as homophobia. Freud famously called this process a “reaction formation” – the angry battle against the outward symbol of feelings that are inwardly being stifled. Even Mr. Haggard seemed to endorse this idea when, apologizing after his scandal for his anti-gay rhetoric, he said, “I think I was partially so vehement because of my own war.” It’s a compelling theory – and now there is scientific reason to believe it. In this month’s issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we and our fellow researchers provide empirical evidence that homophobia can result, at least in part, from the suppression of same-sex desire.

Richard M. Ryan is a professor of psychology, psychiatry and education at the University of Rochester. William S. Ryan is a doctoral student in psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

U.S. News & World Report (April 11)

Some of the newer antidepressants can help treat depression in people with Parkinson’s disease without aggravating other disease symptoms such as tremor or rigidity, researchers have found. “Depression is the number-one factor negatively affecting the quality of life for people with Parkinson’s disease,” study author Dr. Irene Hegeman Richard, a neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., said in a university news release. “It causes a great deal of suffering among patients. The great news here is that it’s treatable. And when the depression is treated adequately, many of the other symptoms become much more manageable for patients.” (Also Reported in: Yahoo! News, Newsday, MSN Health, WebMD)